Find us at Riva 2026, the combined 44th International Symposium on Capillary Chromatography and 21st GC×GC Symposium! This year particular emphasis will be directed to comprehensive separation technologies, capillary GC, and nano- or capillary LC coupled with various forms of MS. The focus extends to miniaturized sample preparation, data analytics, and sustainable technologies.
DATES: May 17-22, 2026
LOCATION: Riva del Garda, Italy
BOOTH: 13
Be sure to attend our presentations throughout the conference to hear the latest data and insights from our experts and collaborators.
POSTER | Tuesday, May 19 | 3:20 - 4:50 PM | Board B.06 | Samuel Foster, Application Scientist, Axcend
Pharmaceutical products that use radionuclides have received approval by the FDA for both therapeutic and imaging applications. Due to radioactive decay inherent in radiopharmaceuticals, they can be labeled no longer than hours to days before administration. LC can be used to determine radiopharmaceutical strength, purity and yield. In addition, waste solvents resulting from treatment must be held until the radionuclide has undergone sufficient decay (typically 10 half-lives) before disposal. Depending on the radionuclide, this storage time can last months to years, leading to large storage facilities and high disposal costs. Capillary-scale LC offers a significant advance to address this waste problem because it best operates at flow rates in the low µL/min flowrate range, reducing solvent consumption by several orders of magnitude compared to analytical-scale LC. This poster describes the use of capillary LC in radiopharmaceutical workflows involving multiple radioligands conjugated to both small and large molecules. Radiochemical detection in capillary LC, system sensitivity, analysis repeatability, and chromatographic performance will be presented to show the implementation of capillary LC into radiopharmaceutical workflows. This work represents a significant step forward in developing greener, safer, and more sustainable alternatives to existing methodologies.
PRESENTATION | Thursday, May 21 | 10:35 - 10:50 AM | Room Dolomiti| Samuel Foster, Application Scientist, Axcend
Drug overdose involving opioids, especially fentanyl, is a leading cause of death among adults who are recreational drug users. The need for accurate and sensitive detection of these drugs at the point of use has risen dramatically in recent years. Test strip assays have been applied to rapidly identify target drugs at biologically relevant concentrations; however, they are susceptible to false positives due to the presence of compounds with similar structures, they have limited sensitivities for trace levels, and interference from urine matrix components can confound the results. In this work, a semi-automated method for solid phase extraction (SPE) and preconcentration of fentanyl and other opioids in urine was developed. Urine samples (20-60 mL) spiked with drugs at concentrations as low as 1 ppb were first extracted in vials coated with polydimethylsiloxane to remove most of the urine matrix. The analytes were then back-extracted from the vial coatings using a small volume of dichloromethane, evaporated to dryness, dissolved in 200 microliters of water/acetonitrile, and directly analyzed using compact capillary LC with large volume injection. Alternatively, the coated vial extracts were loaded onto custom SPE capillary columns for further cleanup and concentration of target analytes. The drug concentrates were then eluted on-line for analysis by capillary LC. Concentration powers as high as 1000x were achieved for fentanyl and other opioids, making detection and identification possible using UV- absorption. This work represents a significant advance in providing highly sensitive detection of drugs of abuse at the point of need using compact instrumentation.
Explore how researchers and industry experts are using capillary LC in real-world applications. These partner-led presentations highlight innovative approaches made possible by low-flow chromatography.
POSTER | Tuesday, May 19 | 3:20 - 4:50 PM | Board B.01 | Eliza Hanson, Rowan University
POSTER | Tuesday, May 19 | 3:20 - 4:50 PM | Board B.04 | John Boughton, Rowan University
ROUNDTABLE | Thursday, May 21 | 12:30 - 1:30 PM | Room Dolomiti
Organized by Jim Grinias (Rowan University) and Milton Lee (Brigham Young University).
Why haven’t capillary LC and nanoLC experienced wider adoption?
→ Are the barriers technical, economic, or cultural?
→ Do green chemistry arguments resonate with decision-makers?
→ Where does capillary LC deliver truly unique advantages?
This round table will address these questions and outline a realistic roadmap for the next decade, with the goal of bringing capillary LC into routine use in QC laboratories.